Chad Finn Reports WEEI To Replace Glenn Ordway With Mike Salk

From 710 ESPN Seattle’s Webpage

The Globe’s Chad Finn, who has been impeccable in his reporting of these things, has sources telling him today that Glenn Ordway, a fixture at WEEI since it went to the all-sports format, will be replaced by former 1510 and 890 host (and current 710 ESPN Seattle host) Mike Salk.

It’s been common knowledge that WEEI needs to make some major changes. But I’ll admit to being floored by this move. Ordway has been a fixture at the station since it went to the all-sports format, and it’s hard to picture Boston radio, let alone WEEI without him on the air.

During the heyday of WEEI, Ordway was tough to listen to, he really encapsulated all that was wrong with the station, talking over callers and co-hosts, not backing down on any opinion, insulting hockey fans, and mocking anything to do with the internet, blogging or the like.

When Entercom management made the move to pair Ordway with Michael Holley, the adjustment was rough. Ordway dominated the show, Holley seemed reluctant to mix it up with Ordway. But in recent months they seemed to have found a nice balance and were providing a decent counter to the daily dramas and hysteria drummed up on the rival Felger and Mazz show on 98.5.

It’s a curious move from that aspect, especially given the continued beatings that the Dennis and Callahan show take in the ratings. It’s apparent that it was much easier to get rid of Ordway (who had already taken a pay cut) than to dump John Dennis and pair Gerry Callahan with someone else.

For some out there, the schadenfreude is flowing. They’ve awaited the day that Ordway fell. The day is here, and I for one, am a bit puzzled by the move, as I have been by many moves made at WEEI since Jeff Brown took over. Behind the scenes, there are unhappy people everywhere at WEEI, and not just the on-air side.

The addition of Salk is an interesting one. He has the local ties, the show he hosts in Seattle is a popular one, but I can’t say I remember a whole lot about him from his time on the airwaves here. I don’t know what style he will bring, though I can guess. (Think: Felger)

You have to think there are other moves coming, though contractual issues with the morning show might force WEEI to hang onto Dennis and Callahan longer than they’d prefer to.

Oh thank Christ. It’s an ash Wednesday miracle! I will probably stick with 98.5 in the morning and midmorning, but with Flagger and SqueakyMaz at a level that now exceeds public douchebaggery, I will give Salk and Holley a shot. The big O is WELL past his prime and let’s face it he was just mailing it in. I am sure he has made enough $$ over the course of his career that he will land on his feet. Smooth sailing Glenn!

It must have to do with the fact that the Red Sox and WEEI are tied at the hip. D&C are a major piece for NESN and the D&C show is the official mouthpiece for the Red Sox and more specifically Uncle Larry. Larry can easily spin his lies and propaganda on that show and when he’s not there speaking for himself then Jerry is more than glad to be his hatchet man.
Larry Lucchino is the one who has saved those turds from getting the axe already. So instead they just keep hiring new flash guys for them.

They’re letting him a swan song/victory lap today. Like him, hate him, he always seemed like a fixture. No tears for him, though. He got to do what he and sports fans everywhere love: talk about sports. And get paid handsomely for it. Not a bad gig.

Not that I love ordway but it boggles my mind that people can enjoy Felger’s act. We get it felger, you hate everything the callers like. And you’re such a big strong man that you can “pretend” to be gay, which isn’t insulting at all.

Hell that man still hasn’t apologized for his anti-jewish rant he made during december, in fact came out and defended himself.

I didn’t mind Ordway at all although he’s been lying through his teeth for years about not having a stake in the All Pro scalper parties. Hopefully this means no more Fred and Steve as well.

Speaking of the Pats it’ll be interesting what WEEI does with Patriots interviews. It was obvious that Belichick and Kraft do not like to talk to anyone else (Ordway has had come back from vacation on more than occasion because of this).

I think it’s wuss move by Belichick and Kraft that they won’t go on the number 1 show on their own patriots flagship just because Felger might ask them real questions about their player personal moves. I guess they’re above any sort of criticism. That’s what happens when you have been getting your ass kissed for way too long. You get soft.

Real questions? Like what, I think the salary cap is crap your thoughts? Belichick is NEVER going to throw a player under the bus or give out any information that he feels will help his next opponent. So what’s the point of going on a show where it’s just going to be combative? See the Keith Foulk interviews with D&H. I don’t think there’s anyone out there who is a tougher critic of Belichick than himself. And I don’t think he’s soft. You don’t go to 7 conference championship games in 12 years if your soft.

I have long argued that the best role for Ordway was as moderator or facilitator and not as opinion giver. He just does not have the knowledge to be a “expert” nor is he quick enough to play the role of provocateur. I think it is important to give Glenn his due. A person does not last 27 years in the same forum by making enemies and sucking. The Big Show really defined sportstalk in Boston over the last 15 years. Look at his coaching tree…it doesn’t suck. But as with all things time caught up to Glenn. It happens. WEEI had to make a change.Between his TV work, his moonlighting on the SVP show, and his several Marconi awards he will land on his feet just fine.

I think the real issues are with management of WEEI and Bruce started to hit on them but did not really go into detail. The current management team Wolf/Kahn/Brown are overseeing the destruction of a once very profitable (and still profitable) regional mega brand. They already destroyed WBCN. I can’t believe that Entercom can be happy with what is going on up here. Still I don’t Salik as being a bold and innovative change…there is no doubt in my mind that Holley will destroy his career given the time and opportunity.

Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a winner. Ordway et al were the huge beneficiaries of an unsatiable sports appetite from listeners in a market whose professional teams have had an incredible run of success the last dozen years with no competition of note until recently.

EEI’s success during this era was kinda like being the best bull fighter in Canada or, going the other way, the best hockey player in Mexico. I submit that if Wolfie and company placed a few average sports fans in those chairs during that period they, too, would have pulled big ratings numbers.

To paraphrase a line from the Godfather, “Let’s face it. Ordway, with all due respect, was slipping. Could Wolfie have gotten to him 10 years ago?”

We are going to have to agree to disagree. There was competition it was just not sports based. Say what you want about Glenn but the Big Show before it got stale was a good show, well run and it featured good hosts thereby allowing Glen to facilitate the discussion. He was good at it and the ratings reflected that. He was fired today because the show did not evolve, instead it lost huge ratings and became too expensive. I still think the tinkering that JW and company did by getting rid of Pete Sheppard and bringing in Mike Holley and Mike Adams caused most of the rapid decline. Ordway is gone, for some unfathomable reason Holley is still here, we will see about Salik…what I remember did not really impress me.

WEEI is over for me. I was a Big Glen Ordway Fan. I’ll listen till Friday than Felger and Mazz here I come. Anyone who listened to Glen Ordway during the World Trade Center Bombings would understand where I am coming from. This Guy is GOOD………..Glen hope to see you soon GREAT JOB…

i will miss Glenn O and the Big show. It was great when he had Fred and Steve on or Cedric on telling the story about being a kid and thinking he was getting his tonsils out when he was really getting a circumcision. It always felt like you were at a bar listening to a bunch of guys talk sports, life, funny stories, etc.., even though you were still at work, and it made those last few hours of work fun. Some one said if they wanted to listen to guys in a bar he would go to a bar. But he was missing the point. Most people are still at work when these guys are on and it made the work or the commute home or trying to get to the bar but are stuck in rush hour traffic a little more bareable. That is what I will miss the most. Any idiot can spout stats, or give opinions, but these guys were doing something different. The morons that decided that this needed fixing are the ones who should be fired. They screwed up twice! They should have left Holley on with Dale which was a pretty good show in its own right and left the Big show alone!

Yes, what we really need is more dumb, uninformed, unfunny people on the radio (or TV or online). Blowing up the Big Show was the best decision EEI made in years. It just happened too late and they didn’t have viable replacement programming.

Mike Salk..Really? Doesn’t anyone remember this guy when he was here using his parents money to pay for air time..Remember his aweful lisp? Remember him sneaking around Francona’s office to eavesdrop on player movement, and then report it as an “Exclusive” All that, wrapped up in an arrogent i’m the smartest guy in the room just as me…persona. Salk is a former Felger wanna be goffer, who went to Seattle to reinvent himself. Jason Wolfe dosent have Felger, so he trying to model one in Salk. The only thing those two have in common is they’re both Jewish. Shocker! How does Wolfe still have a job?

They’re COMPETING (translation for those wearing chinstraps: the opposite of sticking together)… nice to know anti-semitism is strong as ever in the liberal state of MA… go sit on a burning torch of firecrackers you underdeveloped Neanderthal.

Ordway sucks – good riddance. Couldn’t stand the big show: a bunch of fat, old, opinionated, has-beens or never- weres all talking at the same time & big O was the biggest d0ucheb@g of them all. Holly sucks too!

While Ordway should receive some credit for the explosion of sports radio in Boston, most people under 40 didn’t know he was still on air. WEEI can’t compete with the Hub of Boston sports. The real crime is that D&C is still around. WEEI reminds me of the GOP, pander to your base and hope there is no competition. Faced with adversity, the station pooped its pants. I feel like when Ordway, Smerlas, DeOssie, and Shep were together they must’ve delivered merciless wedgies to their interns every commercial break. They thought of themselves as 1950s letterman jacket wearing jackasses, and embraced it. Massachusetts is one of the most liberal states in the union. Elitist buffoonery will not be celebrated here, R.I.P. Ordway.

does anyone want to tackle the real issue here that two long time weei hosts have been removed and they happen to be white and the guy they keep both times happens to be not white? Maybe Holley makes less but race has been a sore issue at the station for a long time so it wouldn’t surprise me if this factored into any decision making as who goes and who stays. I also find it disgusting that Wolfe leaks everything to Chad Finn and he doesn’t get called out for it. When was the last time you heard anything negative regarding Wolfe? His statement was also a joke about Ordway, you just fired a guy that built the station you work at and all you can do is come up with half a paragraph? Glenn had a nice run and I can see why people dislike him but Wolfe seems like the scum of the earth and he will get his soon.

I’ll miss Ordway, there was a lot with EEI that was wrong, and he certainly was hard to listen to at times (I found it worst in the pre-Sports Hub days when it was Glenn, Steve and Fred and it would take them the first 15 minutes of the show to get on topic before going on a 20 minute commercial break), but he was one of my favorite guys to listen to at the station. John Dennis, Mike Adams and Mike Mutnansky all should have been axed over him.

I can never forgive him for teaming up with the football goons and making fun of the callers. Loyal callers spent hours on hold for a chance to talk to them and they would make sport of it. Now, WEEI ties it’s fortunes to Mike Holly for the afternoon drive. Why don’t they just jump into the water clutching an anchor instead of moving the deck chairs around on the sinking ship?

I grew up in New England so I have the teams embedded in my DNA…I came back from Europe 3 years ago and listen to WEEI when NPR annoys me too much, but as Glenn pointed out I am part of that growing market that immediately flips the channel when the commercials come on. My wife, of 15 years younger age and super smart, heard me listening to WEEI a few times, she loved the wit of the wiener line and people like Glenn, then she heard the commercials and said who on earth is dumb enough to listen to the station’s commercials!! We actually played back a few to laugh at them…I hope Glenn’s product Placement vision works because I love guys like Glenn who talk the sports smack, but I can’t deal with the 1st grade reading-level commercials.

Mike Salk helped build sports radio in Seattle. You will love him there and I will be tuning in to listen to him. Salk is awesome and if you don’t like him, we’ll gladly take him back!! GOOD LUCK, SALK!

A loyal listener od WEEI for years. I think management should ask me to be in a focus group. I would immediately put Kirk with Holley in the afternoon and send Salk on his way back to Seattle. He is not working and will never last. Before more listeners jump ship (me) WEEI should make the move and admit their mistake.